Trapped
by GhostFairy
Summary: Hikaru and friends go to the WBBA's annual Halloween party, but the minute Hikaru steps into the haunted house, she knows something isn't right. Things are about to get a whole lot freakier than she ever expected on the spookiest night of the year...


**Happy Halloween, everyone! Hope you guys enjoy this one-shot I wrote while waiting for trick-or-treaters (Spoilers: there were only five, I'll be spending all day tomorrow eating candy XD). It's longer than I expected, but I also wish I could have added more, although then it wouldn't have been done in time. I should have another chapter of Starlight Academy up within the next few days for those of you waiting for that. In the meantime, thank you for reading!**

 **I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade.**

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"C'mon, Hikaru!" Mei Mei stomped her foot impatiently.

"In a second!" Hikaru called back as Sophie forced another false eyelash to her lower eyelid. "I'm almost done!"

Sophie finished, satisfied with her work, and finally let Hikaru stand up from the chair. Hikaru peeked in the mirror at her new, otherworldly look.

Sophie had adorned her with lashes sporting sparkling rhinestones on them and painted her face in a design similar to that of a butterfly's wings. The bright purple, blue, green, and pink colors swirled up to her temples. Colorful rhinestones had been strategically placed around her eyes. Her lips had been painted a light blue.

Hikaru pulled on her sparkly blue wings and admired her completed costume. She looked exactly like the vision of a fairy she had in her head, thanks to Sophie's makeup skills.

Sophie was dressed as a vampire, putting in fangs to top off her own look.

Mei Mei came running into the room, dressed as a witch. "What's taking so- Wow, Hikaru, you look great!"

"Thanks!" Hikaru beamed.

"What about me?" Sophie spun in a circle. "Do I look okay?"

"Obviously," Hikaru had to roll her eyes at that. "Sophie, you always look fantastic."

Sophie ran a brush through her hair. "Yeah, but it's a Halloween party we're going to. I have to look extra good."

"You're just hoping Wales is there, aren't you?" Mei Mei accused, a smile on her face.

Sophie tried to hide a light blush. "Regardless, we have to make a statement. And besides, aren't you going to be looking for Chao Xin?"

Madoka suddenly appeared in the doorway before Mei Mei could retaliate. "Guys, if we don't leave now, we're going to be late!" She adjusted the cape on her Little Red Riding Hood costume.

"Okay, okay! We get the point!" Hikaru laughed, then dashed for the door with the others.

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up at the WBBA Headquarters. The girls stared at the building with a mixture of shock and awe.

The building had been completely overhauled, with Halloween decorations covering the front lawn. Skeletons sat in lawn chairs and blow-up decorations illuminated the path to the door. Trees had been wrapped to the extreme in glowing orange lights.

"It's so pretty!" Mei Mei squealed with delight. Sophie grabbed her hand and the two of them raced on ahead toward the entryway.

Madoka smiled. "Shall we head on in?"

At the doorway, they presented their invitations, and upon entering the foyer were greeted by yet another dazzling sight. The brilliant chandelier above them glowed with a soft orange light. Black cobwebs had been strung all around the room. Pumpkins directed them into a large room with plenty of space for dancing, several tables, and a small buffet.

Madoka facepalmed. "You don't have to be a genius to know who that is raiding the buffet."

Hikaru glanced over, and saw two figures. One was dressed as Spiderman, the other a skeleton with a painted face to match. She giggled. Of course Gingka and Masamune had already scoped out the food.

Sophie and Mei Mei came over to rejoin them.

"This place looks great," Sophie bubbled with excitement. "I've heard they decorated outside on the back lawn, too."

As they headed over toward the draped exit leading outside, something, or rather someone, caught Hikaru's attention.

A hooded ninja with a sheet covering their mouth was staring in their direction, but quickly turned away the moment Hikaru noticed them. From a distance, it was impossible to tell who they were. Almost instantly, they had turned away and walked out of sight. Hikaru just barely glimpsed the dragon design on the back of their costume.

She frowned, trying to place them.

Outside, as Sophie had said, was also elaborated decorated. Again, orange lights were strung across trees, though there were less blow-up directions, likely so people would have room to move around. Bright candles were set up along the edges, making it easy to see. Quite a few people were there. In one of the corners, a DJ played music with colorful lights dancing in sync with the tunes.

Gingka came bounding up to them. "Hey, Madoka! Did you hear they've got a haunted house this year?"

Without warning, he dragged Madoka away from them. The other girls laughed.

"I guess we should go in on our own," Sophie commented, amused.

The haunted house was off to the left, separated a bit from the rest of the festivities.

Before she had a chance to say anything, Hikaru found herself left in the dust by Sophie and Mei Mei who had already plowed on ahead trying to catch up to Madoka and Gingka. Hikaru rolled her eyes and smiled.

Upon entering the first room, it looked like any other haunted house: slightly tacky, but definitely designed for spooking any visitors. The fake blood was a little too orange for Hikaru's liking, but in stark contrast the bones dangling from the ceiling were almost too realistic.

Hikaru stepped through the mesh curtain and right into a dungeon.

An iron maiden was set up in one corner. Medieval torture devices and chains of varying lengths littered the door. On one of the walls, someone had scrawled "HELP" in what looked to be more blood.

Hikaru smiled in spite of herself. This wasn't that bad, even if she was all alone.

Two seconds later, she screamed when three of the suits of armor started moving toward her and ran out of the room.

Hikaru now found herself in a graveyard, tombstones and shadowy trees casting an eerie mood around her. Several skeletons crawled out of open graves, and another two peeked out of a mausoleum. A soft fog billowed out from behind them.

"Sophie? Mei Mei?" She called their names hopefully, but got nothing in return other than the creepy noises, hooting owls and a sinister wind, that filled the air around her.

The next room was designed to look like a vampire's lair, with coffins placed upright along the walls and on the floor. The entire room was lit in red. She barely flinched as one of the coffins popped open and one of the vampires sprang up from inside of it.

The lights went out.

Hikaru blinked, trying to force her eyes to adjust to the inky darkness as her heart race increased.

A shriek echoed from the room Hikaru had been in earlier. She jumped, crying out herself, trying to feel her way to the exit.

She stumbled over something, probably one of the coffins, barely catching herself before hitting the floor. She scrambled back to her feet.

Hikaru took out her phone. It provided her some light, at least enough to vaguely make out the shapes around her. She groaned, noting that she had zero cell service.

"Hello?" Hikaru yelled. Someone else had to be nearby. "Hello?"

Only silence greeted her. Hikaru realized even the creepy music that had been playing had ceased.

She took a deep breath. This had to be part of the spectacle. She was in a haunted house after all. There was nothing to be afraid of. Any minute now, the lights would flicker back on and she'd be able to continue through the rest of it. The only reason it was so frightening was because she didn't have anyone else with her, she reassured herself.

Using her phone, she navigated her way to the door, skirting around the coffins.

When the door was merely inches away, she heard a creaking noise.

Hikaru jumped back as the door slammed shut in her face. She hollered, then tried to force the door back open.

It didn't budge. She began banging on the door as terror started sinking into her veins.

"Can anyone hear me?!"

In a flash of light, a fiery red blaze illuminated the area once more and the music played. Suddenly, even with its plastic vampires, the room felt much more menacing. Hikaru shivered. The door was still locked.

Hikaru stepped back. This was taking the haunted house thing way too far. The WBBA had really pulled out all the stops on this one. Sure, if she'd been with other people it would have been more fun than scary, but as it was she was trapped in the dark by herself.

Hikaru sighed. This was karma for thinking the decorations were tacky.

Maybe the entry leading back to the cemetery was still open. Before she could turn around to test that theory, she felt herself bump into something.

Two hands wrapped themselves around her mouth and her waist, preventing her from screaming as she was picked up.

Hikaru desperately kicked her legs. Eyes rapidly refocusing, she saw a coffin in front of her. She flailed wildly.

Whoever it was dropped her inside the coffin. Hikaru shrieked as she was freed from their grip. By the time she'd spun to face them, the coffin door was already being shut on her.

She held her hands out, pushing the door back. Seconds later, the attempt proved worthless as she was plunged into darkness. Hikaru tried shoving the door open, but it was stuck.

She started hyperventilating. There was hardly any room for her to move in the coffin. She managed to get her phone out in front of her. Furthering her distress, she saw that she was still in a dead zone.

Hikaru started screaming at the top of her lungs, not caring if she caused a commotion. If her shrieks drew people to the room, so be it. She banged furiously against the door, hoping it would make it open.

The coffin began to wobble and the ground slipped out beneath her. Hikaru braced herself as gravity brought the coffin to the floor, slamming it to the ground.

Hikaru's eyes widened fearfully, stopping her cries for only a moment. She'd somehow managed to put herself in an even worse position now that the coffin had fallen to the floor.

With the brief quiet, she realized the music in the room had been turned up even louder. Recorded shrieks were camouflaging her own, making it seem like hers were all part of the act. How was anyone going to hear her?

She couldn't bang against the door any longer. She was really stuck now.

Hikaru shouted again and again, until she finally stopped. She didn't know how long she'd spent in the coffin. Her only solace in all of this was the thin opening at the top of the coffin, not even large enough to stick her hand through, that let air in. She didn't know if she'd have been able to last this long without it. Through the gap, all she could see was a sliver of that same red light.

Every so often, Hikaru would hear someone walk by and yell out, but no one heard.

Her vision blurred. She could not pass out here. She just couldn't. Hikaru refused to let herself fully give into her fear.

She struggled to control her breathing. Any minute now, one of her friends would notice she was missing, and then-

The coffin started moving again. She shrieked as it was brought back to an upright position.

The door was suddenly yanked open and Hikaru had to blink as the full strength of the lights hit her. She stepped out of the coffin, still breathing heavily.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She saw a figure disappear behind the door, catching a flash of their costume as they vanished.

Hikaru raced back over to the cemetery and much to her relief found she could still get through to the other room. She'd seen enough. There was no way she'd be sticking around to find out what else the haunted house had in store for her.

Hikaru nearly collapsed as she exited the haunted house. She immediately noticed someone laughing at her.

She was about to whip around and lay into them, when she realized it was Masamune.

"C'mon, Hikaru, you couldn't even get through the whole thing? It wasn't that scary," Masamune was nearly doubled over.

Hikaru ignored him and started walking back over to the main room. Masamune was definitely _not_ the one who had trapped her in that coffin. Goofy as he was, she knew he never would have pulled a prank that would have left her in danger. If it had been him, he would have let her out instantly after scaring her a little. She didn't have the slightest clue who had trapped her in there.

Anyways, there was something else she was much more interested in at the moment.

Hikaru snaked her way through the crowd, past the buffet table until she found the person she was looking for.

The ninja was off to the side, not paying much attention to the event. In fact, Hikaru was certain that if she could see the expression below the face mask, it would be one of irritation. If not for the design on the back of the costume, she wouldn't have known who it was that had rescued her.

She walked up to them.

Hikaru nearly gasped. She recognized those golden eyes instantly as they regarded her.

"T-Thank you," she managed to get out. "How did you know I was in there?"

He said nothing.

Feeling awkward as his eyes bore into her, she began to walk away.

"Be careful."

She whirled around, but he had already left. She stared at the dragon on his back as he retreated.

Hikaru went back outside and found her friends underneath one of the white tents next to a bowl of candy.

"Hikaru!" Mei Mei called out happily. "Where have you been? I thought you were in the haunted house with us."

"I was… It's a long story."

"Are you okay? You're cheeks are pretty red," Madoka observed.

Hikaru quickly told them about her unintentionally long stay in the haunted house, much to her friends' horror.

"How do you get out?" Sophie asked, stricken. She handed a candy bar to Hikaru.

"I had a little help."

"From who?"

Hikaru's vision drifted across the lawn until she spotted her ninja savior. His eyes linked with hers.

"I'm not sure. They were in costume," Hikaru responded, her mind miles away from where she currently stood.

"Who would even do that to you? Why?" Mei Mei asked, nervousness and anger filling her voice.

Hikaru shrugged. She'd been wondering the same thing ever since she'd been freed from what could have legitimately become her actual coffin. Unfortunately, with everyone dressed up, not to mention the fact that she hadn't even seen who grabbed her, she'd probably never know.

"Someone's out there…"


End file.
